Mail-bag-receiving device for aerial mail-delivery systems



Mar; 3; 1925; 1,528,174

H. c. WALDMAN MAIL BAG RECEIVING DEVICE FOR AERIAL MAiL DELIVERY SYSTEMS Filed Nov. 12,- 1923 INVENTO/E.

//, C, Wa/dman.

Patented Mar. 3, 1925 maniac. 'WAIJDMAN, oi s'r. Lo Is, msso a;

Mm-BAG-ammm imvronron AERIAL mn-nmwm sysmns.

Application filed November 12,1923; seria'l' No. 674;258.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN Cl WALD- MA'N, a citizen of the United "States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new "and useful- Improvement in lYIail-Bag-Receiving Devices for Aerial Mail- Delivery Systems, of which the following is a full, clear, and eractdescrip tion, such. as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to devicesof the kind that are used for receiving mail bags thrown from a conveyance that is in motion.

The .main objectof my invention is'to overcome the necessity of a mail plane or other aerial mail transporting machine making a landing at each station to which mail is delivered.

To this. endI have devised a device which consists of a hoppe'r'of such dimen-I sions and arrangement "that a mail bag can be dropped into same from an aerial machine that is in motion, and auna il bag receptacle or receiving room combined with said hopper lIl'SLlOll a manner that the mail bag received by the hopper will be deliver-ed into said receptacle or receiving room. "In order that the device may be used at night for receiving mail delivered by anaerial mail transporting machine, it is equipped with beacon lights that illu- 'minate the sky and assist the operator in 3 charge of theaerial machine tofloca'te the station at which mail is to be delivered. The particular design and construction of the'device may vary greatly without de parting from the spirit of 'my invention,

butit 'will usually consist of a horizontallydisposed hopper of relatively great area, a relatively high supporting structure forsaid hopper equipped with beacon lights arranged so that the rays from same will be projected upwardly awards the sky, a mail bag chute or conduit leading from the outlet of'said hopper and a closed receptacle or receiving room into which'mail bags are discharged from 'said' chute.

A dev'ieeof the character'above described materiallyreduces the time of delivering mail by aerial machines, as it overcomes the necessity 'of making a landing at each station alongthe rout'e at" which mail bags are delivered it materially reduces the expense o f-installing and operating an aerial mail delivering system, as it eliminates the n'ecessit'y ofhaving alandin-gfield at each station of the system 'an'c'l a number or operatives to maintain the landing field; in proper conditionandguard the mail delivered to same, and' it makes it practicable to deliver ma-i-l byaerialmachines to small towns and village's where the amount of mail delivered Would not justify the expenseot building and maint'aini-ng a =land-' ing field. I

' Figure l of ithe drawings isva top plan View ofafmail bag receivingdevice embodyingmy invention; and

Figure 2is a vertical sectional View of said device.

I Referring to the drawings which illustrated the receiving receptacle or room C is arranged at'a point below and to one side of the hopper A, and thechute B is provided-with a vertical portion 2 whose lower end merges-into a horizontally-disposedportion' so as to tend to break the force of the fall of a mail ba'g'th'atis dropped into the hopper. The discharge end of'the chute B through which 'the mail bags are delivered into the receiving receptacle or room C is provided with an automatically operating closure 4 that opens automatically "when engaged by a mail bag that is traveling through the horizontal portion 3 of the chute towards the receiving receptacle or room, the closure 4 being normally maintained in its closed position by a spring, weight or other suitablemeans. One desirable feature of my'invention is tha-t it enables mail'to'be delivered from "anaerial machine directly to a post dflice -"building located'in the congesteddistrict' 'of a*lar ge due to the fact that the hopper A of the device can be mounted on the roof of the post ofiice building. When the device is used in this way the chute or conduit B will either lead downwardly from the hopper to one of the rooms of the building, or will lead to a small compartment mounted on the roof 5 of the building, as shown in Figure "2, and equipped with a spring-actuated or counterbalanced trap door 6 that provides access to the interior of said compartment and establishes communication between the interior of the department and the building city,

" on which the device is mounted.

The hopper A herein illustrated is of frusto-pyramidal shape in general outline and is constructed of wire netting T, as such material has a certain amount of resiliency that tends to break the force of the fall of a mail bag dropped into the hopper, and as it is provided with openings, rain can pass through same, thus preventing the hopper from acting as a funnel which collects rain and delivers it into the chute B. The netting from which the hopper is constructed is connected at its upper edge to a rigid top frame 8 and at its lower edge to a rigid bottom frame 9, which frames are sustained by a relatively high supporting structure of any suitable kind, such, for example, as a plurality of vertically-disposed posts D. Beacon lights E are mounted On the posts D in such a way that the rays from same will be projected upwardly towards the sky, and in order that said beacon lights will be protected from injury resulting from a mail bag striking same, the top frame 8 of the hopper is made large enough so that the wire netting 7 will extend over said beacon lights, the posts I) being provided with outwardly-flared arms 10 that project upwardly-above the beacon lights and which are connected to the top frame 8 of the hopper. Centering lights F are preferably arranged under the hopper in proximity to the outlet 1 of the hopper so as to indicate the point of the hopper at which the operator in charge of the aerial machine aims in dropping a mail bag into the hopper, which centering lights are herein illustrated as being mounted on laterallyprojecting arms 11 on the posts D that sustain the bottom frame 9 of the ho per. If desired, one or more flood lights can be mounted on the supporting structure of the hopper so as to brightly illuminate the space surrounding the device.

In addition to the desirable features above pointed out, a device of the construction above described, when equipped with a hopper formed of wire netting, forms a very eflicient antenna for a wireless receiving apparatus when the wire netting is connected with a ground wire, on account of the relatively great area covered by the wire netting and the relatively great height of said wire netting above the ground. This, of course, is only an incidental advantage of the device, but is of considerable practical importance. The main purpose of the device, of course, is to reduce the time required to deliver mail to a receiving station by an aerial machine and to enable aerial machines to be used to deliver mail to small towns and rural districts. The fact that the device can be mounted on the roof of the post office of a large city also materially reduces the time required to transport mail from one city to another by aerial machines, as it overcomes the necessity of transporting the mail bags by trucks to the post ofiice building from a landing field located at the edge of the city, as is now the usual practice.

Having thus described my invention, what i claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery systems, consisting of a hori zontally-disposed hopper of relatively great diameter, into which a mail bag is adapted. to be dropped from an aerial machine that is in motion, a relatively high supporting structure that carries said hopper, and beacon lights mounted on said supporting structure for indicating the approximate dimensions and outline of the mouth of the hopper.

2. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery systems, comprising a horizontally disposed hopper of relatively great diameter arranged a considerable distance above the ground and adapted to receive a mail bag dropped from an aerial machine that is in motion, said hopper being constructed of open-mesh material, and centering lights that indicate the center of said hopper, arranged underneath the hopper and protected by the open-mesh material from which the hopper is constructed.

3. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery systems, comprising a high supporting structure, ahorizontally disposed. hopper of relatively great area mounted on said supporting structure and constructed of wire netting or the like, beacon lights on said supporting structure that define the approximate dimensions and outline of the mouth of the hopper, arranged so that the rays from same will be projected upwardly, and centering lights on said supporting structure that indicate the center of the hopper.

4. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery systems, comprising a supporting structure provided with beacon lights arranged so that the rays from same will be projected upwardly, and a horizontally-disposed hopper constructed of open mesh material adapted to receive a mail bag dropped from an aerial machine and arranged so that it will protect said lights from injury by the mail bags dropped into the hopper.

5. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery systems, comprising a horizontally-disposed hopper into which a mail bag is adapted to be dropped from an aerial machine, said hopper being constructed of open mesh material. rigid top and bottom frames to which said open mesh material is connected, a supporting structure for the hopper consisting of posts or uprights to which said frames are connected, and beacon lights on said posts arranged so that they will be protected by said open mesh material.

6. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery systems, comprising a horizontally-disposed hopper constructed of open mesh material and adapted to receive a mail bag dropped from an aerial machine, rigid frames at the upper and lower ends of said hopper, uprights or posts, beacon lights on said posts arranged underneath the hopper, and arms on said posts connected to said frames.

7. A mail bag receiving device for aerial mail delivery s stems, comprising a horizontally-disposed hopper constructed of open mesh material and adapted to receive a mail bag dropped from an aerial machine, rigid frames at the upper and lower ends of said hopper, uprights or posts, beacon lights on said posts arranged underneath the hopper, arms on said posts connected to said frames, centering lights for indicating the center of said hopper carried by some of said arms and arranged so that they will be protected by the material from which the hopper is constructed, a mail bag chute or conduit leading from the outlet of said hopper and provided with a laterally branched portion, and a closed receptacle or receiving room into which mail bags are discharged from said chute.

HERMAN C. WALDMAN. 

